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tv   Martin Bashir  MSNBC  June 12, 2012 12:00pm-1:00pm PDT

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let it run its course. >> and teachers, cops and firefighters. >> we need more firefighters and more teachers. did he not get the message of wisconsin the american people did? it's time for us to cut back on government. >> he said you want to cut firefighters and teachers. did you understand what was going on in the communities? what do you say to that, governor? >> that's a very strange accusation. teachers and firefighters are hired at the local level and also by states. the federal government doesn't pay for teachers, firefighters or policemen. that is absurd. >> it is time for us to cut back. >> absurd? >> of course. >> of course. >> of course. >> of course. >> i'm not familiar precisely with what i said, but i stand
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behind whatever it was. >> we begin with some strange claims on the campaign trail and mitt romney hasn't hit the road yet for his five-day bus tour. already, there are signs the fumes may be getting to him. it started with romney's favorite friends at "fox & friends" and in a brutally combative interview -- not. romney offered his latest defense. his own claims that he would like to see smaller government and fewer public workers. >> well, that's a very strange accusation, of course. teachers and firemen are police officers are hired at the local level. obviously that is absurd. >> that's completely absurd, is it? why did he say this with such vitriol on friday?
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>> he says we need more firefighters and more teachers. did he not get the message of wisconsin? >> is our head wobbly yet? romney may not want to go on slashed payrolls for teachers and cops. asked about it today, romney said, quote, sorry, i'm not going to talk about that. no, of course he isn't. he would like to throw out the word absurd again, though. how about aiming it at the president's campaign slogan in an inspired nonsequiter when asked about the nation's wealth. >> that is why the american people are having such a hard time. the idea of selecting a campaign slogan, "forward" is absurd. the president needs to go out and talk to people. not just do fund-raisers. >> romney said hours before heading off to a fund-raiser, yes, indeed, mitt of the people
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is really feeling your pain or at least he is reading about it. a report shows that the recent economic crisis left the american family in 2010 with no more wealth than the early 2000s. down to just over $77,000 in 2010. the housing crash, of course, accounted for 3/4 of that loss. what was it that mitt romney said about those facing foreclosure process? >> don't stop the foreclosures. put the renters in them and turn around and let it come back up. >> sorry, homeowners. they will happily take your rent. let's bring in your panel now. in washington, richard wolfe and
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david corn. then we have jonathan altar. richard, does mitt romney believe we are all imbeciles? the report suggesting that 92% of jobs lost were held by women. one report was closer to 56%. that 40% is mostly the value of people's homes. >> yes, i recall at one point he pretended he was in the middle class as well. it is true. he really did. you can fool all of the people some of the time. actually a little bit perplexed here by what romney has done. he is clueless or playing clueless on tv. his position here as someone who
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knows about the private sector, his position on the recent swings we have seen. the boom and the bust, leads you to one conclusion. we have been through the three bubbles. internet bubble and housing bubble and economy bubble. it has taken the middle class to a point they have not been to a long time. to suggest that is down to the last two or three years or to suggest that any president could change it around in two or three years is something that has gone on for two decades is -- well that is absurd. >> yes, indeed. thank you for that. david, despite that, we heard him say in his own words let foreclosures hit bottom. find them and flip them. no worries for those left out in the cold. >> i just have to salute mitt romney. he is always looking for a good deal. you know, whether it was at bain
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or a side light to his current profession which is presidential candidate. this is a guy -- earlier when you played the interim music, you should play "should i stay or should i go" by the clash. >> we have used that song. >> he will say whatever is situational. he wanted to look tough on homeowners. he was decrying. they have come up with problems to try to put a floor on foreclosures. then he said to blow through that. now he is decrying the wealth. might have arrested a slight bit. he is a politician. he is doing it more than most. i give him extra points. >> do you agree? >> i just find his hamhandedness so striking.
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a smart politician would know how to take a position on foreclosures that did not seem heartless. to go after fat and lazy state bure bureaucrats in wisconsin. a smart politician would be able to do that without going after firefighters and teachers and police officers. they like the ones who protect them. they don't necessarily like their pensions, but that is a distinction they can keep in their minds. mitt romney can't. it is hurting him politically. >> yeah. richard, romney is also out today citing healthcare reform somehow making the president out of touch. take a listen. >> just yesterday, the president said something else that shows just how much out of touch he is. he said he didn't understand
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that obama care was hurting small business. obama care. i mentioned already is the poster child for a piece of policy that has made it harder for businesses to hire people. >> now, as you know, richard, his favorite study is from the chamber of commerce. the poster child for the lobby of business. >> he is the poster child for the obama care. in an alternative universe or in romney's memoirs, he will lament the one piece of his campaign and the one thing where he could say i did take something from my business career and implement it is health care in massachusetts. the one thing he has to twist himself around. the president modelled his plan on it and everyone has to hate what the president did on health care. that is where republicans are right now.
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mitt romney is unsuited to this point in time. he should be talking about his record in a positive way. instead, he has to resort to this idiocy. >> david, how does romney get c senior from moody's is saying, the arguments that obama care scaring people from hiring and into deeper recession. he shamelessly quotes it. >> martin, are you bringing up facts in the conversation? >> i apologize. >> i hate to say this because it sounds hyperpartisan and glib. romney and his crediticisms of e president are not fact. you could have good policy debates, but he goes for the cheap shots that make him look
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bad. when he goes out there and he attacks teachers, firefighters and cops, i think there is an explanation for this. in his world, you don't need cops because you have your private security. you don't need teachers because you go to private school. you don't need firefighters because you have sprinklers in your homes. his needs don't match those of many americans. >> do you agree with that? >> no. >> the prism with which romney sees the world is through the millionaire's stance. >> i actually reject that. we had very wealth yy president in the past. they also went to private school and had private security. that's the point. it is not about how much money you have, it's about the lens you use to look at the world. that is not necessarily the
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product of your experience. that goes to questions of character and breadth of judgment and other things that are relevant for the next president. on the health care point. it is important to remember that romney is where, unfortunately, where the american people are. the polls are bad for obama on obama care. partly because there have been so many lies told in the last few years. when he goes after, you know, this question and says that small business is not hiring because obama care. although it is not true, it sounds right to voters. it sounds intuitively true. he will probably score some points with it. >> jonathan alter and david corn and richard wolffe, stay with us. stay with us. >> if, in fact, we were able to pull this back in the iranian nuclear facility, somebody
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scandal fever is sweeping capitol hill today thanks to the investigation into the intelligence leaks. john mccain came down with an acute case on the floor of the senate. >> it cries out for appointment for special counsel. >> the fever is expanding where lindsey graham drew a rebuke from richard durbin. >> i really think that was over the line. >> yes, it is the crusade
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against leaking and it is latest rallying cry. >> those who have made c comparisons to iran. those in the president's team that is putting people's lives in jeopardy just to make him look good in the election year. >> let's go back to our panel, david corn. the name, tom donnein. do they have any claims? >> no, except he is the national security adviser. >> good guess. >> the important point is i did not see these people crying out for special prosecutors or counsels when woodward was writing the book on the bush and national security team which is
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full of information. they were upset about the counsel that investigated the valerie plame leak. then the computer cyber warfare. it is probably good the public and others know that so they don't sit around as republicans say all the time, believing that obama is doing nothing to stop it, so we have no choice to set up conflict. >> david, sean hannity is saying lives are being damaged by the cause of the leaks. >> it would be nice if they had evidence. holder has named two career people injustice. it seems that is commensurate an
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issue. >> how about democrats standing shoulder-to-shoulder with republicans in absolute outrage? how they all want a special counsel to investigate except take a specialize even to this. >> our sense of the senate resolution will be introduced to set up a special counsel and i just want to say that at this time, i would oppose that legislation. >> richard, be honest, this is a partisan witch hunt. it is not bipartisan at all. >> i don't agree with david corn. you can't downplay. david sanger, who has written this great book about this kind of issue. there was a great people of reporting. it happens -- >> i'm not downplaying that. >> for the politics of it, you have to set that aside. there are national security
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implications. two u.s. attorneys is a lot. one u.s. attorney in chicago who went after the libby leak. i know republicans say they like bill clinton now, but they also inflicted ken starr on everyone. >> just to defend david corn. he is jealous he did not get the leak. john, we have heard this before. it is the swift boat technique. you find the strength of the individual and the outstanding success and attempt to undermine it. >> in the book "kill or capture" which is about the targeted killings of terrorists, the president comes across very well. the republicans want to knock that down. go after a strength. that is the carl rove playbook.
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the other is go after the weakness. their brilliant innovation was to go after the politicians' strength. if you can do that, he will collapse like a house of cards. >> even if it is lying about someone military service like john kerry? >> right. if obama loses, it will be because of the economy and carl rove's money that he is getting from the billionaires, not because they have been able to take him down on national security. >> david, they want to take this all the way back to ken starr and special counsel with unlimited deadline who can dog this right the way through and beyond the next election. >> all of the things they complained about when patrick fitzgerald was doing the scooter libby leak. they know "the hill" leaks as
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much about the white house when it comes to security matters. as they said earlier, they were not at all concerned about the leaks in the bush years let alone the valerie plame leak. this is a partisan attack. i understand leaks can be a problem, but they are not always a problem. they are always fodder for which ever side wants to make an attack for control. not every leak is bad. we have to praise singanger and others. >> thank you, gentlemen. next, mitt romney gets his bus ready for the tour of real american towns. you know what he means, right? >> it's a hair piece? that's what i heard on david letterman the other day. it's a hair piece? >> i guess i got it glued on real tight. >> it could be windy out on the road today. >> you bet.
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nicholas brand wanted to start a window washing business. he called the company men in kilts after his wife made a kilt for him and his franchise has grown with more in the pipeline. watch "your business" on msnbc. s let's do this i am from baltimore south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love this is for everyone back home it's go time. across america, we're all committed to team usa.
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what's your policy? mitt romney mics likes to play the song "life is a highway." starting this friday, that will literally be true. he will start a bus tour going through six states. that is where mr. romney's truth telling comes to a stop. he is calling the bus tour "believe in america, every town counts." knowing full well that every town does not count. that's why his bus will only stop in the battle ground states of new hampshire, pennsylvania and iowa and michigan and wisconsin and iowa. all six states were taken by the president in 2008. that's why they count so much to mr. romney this time around. maybe he has learned a lesson from senator john mccain who's
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bus was called the straight campaign. so this is another falsehood to drive his campaign. every town counts. mr. romney should realize in a presidential campaign, every word counts. even the slogan on his bus. stay with us. the day's top headlines are coming up. >> we have to come to grips with how big the challenge is and does that mean there will be fewer teachers? the honest answer is yes. managing my diabetes is part of my life,
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♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] the president isjusttaken to the stage in baltimore, maryland at a fund raising reception in at the inner harbor. let's take a listen. >> sorry, buddy. didn't see you. he's done an out standing job.
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i am here today not just because i need your help, although i do, but i'm here because the country needs your help. a lot of you got involved in our campaign in 2008 and we came together not because of me. we came together because all of us shared the feeling that we need to reclaim the basic bargain that built this country. that created the biggest middle class that the world had ever seen. we came together because of a shared belief that in america, your success should not be determined by the circumstances of your birth. if you are willing to work hard, if you are willing to take responsibility, you should be able to own a home. you should be able to send your kids to college.
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you shouldn't be bankrupt when you get sick. you should be able to retire with dignity and respect. no matter who you are. no matter where you come from. no matter what you look like. no matter who you love. no matter what your faith. here in america, you should be a able to make it if you try. that's why we came together. [ applause ] >> and back in 2008, we had a sense that washington had strayed away from these basic values. think about it. we had a record surplus that was squandered on tax cuts for people who did not need them and did not ask for them. two wars fought on credit cards. wall street reaping huge profits for a few and some people doing fantastically well, but more and more people had to get by with
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falling incomes while the cost of college was skyrocketing. we saw the slowest job growth in the decade before i took office. then, it all culminated in a house of cards that collapsed in the most destructive financial crisis since the great depression. in the last six months of 2008, while we were campaigning, our friends and neighbors lost nearly 3 million jobs. over 800,000 more were lost the month i was sworn in. so even as we were in grant park that night celebrating, as much hope and possibility as we felt on that cold day in january on the national mall, we knew we had our work cut out for us. so we had to take action. bold, swift action and sometimes it wasn't popular, to prevent
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another depression. we understood it would not be swift. we knew there could be plenty of s stubborn opposition along the way. we knew if we stayed at it and we were willing to roll up our sleeves, if we were determined not to quit, we could come back stronger than before. i still believe that. nothing has shaken my faith. the american people continually confirm it for me because they are strong and they are resilient and i know america will come back stronger and i know our better days are ahead of us. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> and i believe that because of you. you guys give me faith.
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it's been tough, but the american people are tougher. and so, while some people were saying let's go ahead and let detroit go bankrupt, we said let's make our bet on the american worker and american businesses. gm is number one again and we are coming back stronger than before. small business owners i had a chance to meet who would describe for me how they would -- i love you back. but small business owners who decided i will not layoff my workers, although it means i don't take a salary this year because i know families are depending on me. we don't quit. we keep going. you saw people who had been laid
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off from their jobs at the age of 50 or 55. they go back and retrain for a new job in a new industry. don't quit. with grit and resilience and innovation, we're fighting our way back. so, just like we didn't let detroit go bankrupt, not only did we save the auto industry, we are seeing better cars made. which allows our auto industry to be on top of the world once again. doubling fuel efficiency standards on cars so you get 55 miles a gallon in the next decade. that will save the average american family $8,000 during the life of a car. not only did we prevent liquidation, we are coming back stronger than before. the same is true when it came to manufacturing. you know, manufacturing is now
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hiring at a faster pace and investing in america again consistently and adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. businesses starting to get back to basics. [ applause ] >> the private sector creating nearly 4.3 million jobs in the last 27 months. over 800,000 jobs just this year alone. does this make us satisfied? no. not when we have so many folks who are still out there looking for work. not when so many homes are still under water. not when so many states are still laying off teachers and first responders. this crisis did not happen overnight. it will not be solved overnight. the fact is, job growth in this recovery has been stronger than the one following the last recession a decade ago. we recovered more effectively than most other advanced nations.
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but the hole we have to fill is deep. the global aftershocks are great. and that's why we have to keep pressing with actions that further strengthen this recovery. we've got more work to do. we know that. now, what we also understand is the last thing we can do is return to the very policies that got us into the mess in the first place. not now, not with so much at stake, baltimore. we have come too far to abandon the change that we fought for these past four years! we have to move forward to the future we imagined! where everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody's playing by the same rules and that's the choice in this election. that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states of america. we've got more work to do. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ]
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>> now my opponent in this election, governor romney, is a patriotic american. he has raised a wonderful family. he should be proud of the personal success he achieved. i think he has drawn the wrong lessons from these experiences. he seems to believe that if ceos and wealthy investors are doing well like him, that the rest us are automatically doing well. when the woman shared her story of the financial struggles in iowa, he gave her an answer out of a textbook. he said our productivity equals our income. those are us who spent time in the real world know that the problem is not the american people aren't productive enough. you have been working harder
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than ever. the challenge we're facing is that for over a decade harder work hasn't led to higher incomes. bigger profits at the top haven't led to better jobs across the board. you can't solve that problem if you can't see it. [ applause ] >> what a lot of current republicans seem to not get a healthy economy is not just maximizing our economy through busting unions. you don't make america stronger by shipping jobs and profits overseas. when governor romney or the republicans who control the house of representatives propose cutting taxes for folks who
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don't need them, while raising them on 18 million working families. that is not a recipe for economic growth. by the way, there is nothing new about these ideas. this is the same old stuff they had been pedaling for years. although as bill clinton pointed out the other day, this time their agenda is on steroids. they want even bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. they want to give banks and insurance companies more power to do as they please. you know -- and when i hear governor romney say his 25 years in the private sector gives him experience for how the economy works. why are your policies bringing our economy to the brink of disaster? [ applause ]
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>> either he believes it will lead to a different result this time, although there is no evidence of that or he is hoping you won't remember just what happened the last time we tried those bad ideas. and we're here to say we remember and we're not going back there. we're moving this country forward. i want to be clear. we don't expect government to solve all our problems and it shouldn't try to solve all our problems. i learned from my mother that no education policy is more important than your parents nagging you. and making and giving you the love and attention and scoldings you need. >> thank, mom. >> thank mom. absolutely. my first job or one of my first jobs out of college was working with a group of catholic churches who taught me no
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poverty program can make as much of a difference in a life as the commitment of caring neighbors and caring friends. not every regulation is smart. not every tax dollar is spent wisely. not every person can be helped who refuses to help themselves. that is not an excuse to tell the vast majority of the hard working americans, many of whom are struggling, you're on your own. unless you are lucky enough to have parents to afford to lend you money, you may not be able to go to college. if you pay your premiums every month, the insurance company may decide to drop your coverage when you need it most and you are out of luck. that's not who we are. that's not what built america. we built this country together. we build railroads and highways and the hoover dam and the golden gate bridge. we built those things together.
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we sent my grandfather's generation to college on the gi bill. including my grandfather. we do that together. we didn't make investments that ultimately led to the internet or all these things that created platforms for private dbusinesss to succeed. we did not do it for one individual or one particular group. we did it because this will make us all richer. if we have great public schools and great public universities and we're making these investments in outstanding infrastructure, that is good for everybody. everybody can succeed. it moved us together as one nation and as one people. that's the true lesson of our past. that's the right vision for our future. that's why i'm running again for president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ]
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>> that is the president speaking to supporters in baltimore. urging to stand by him. he said he wanted to reclaim the basic bargain of meritocracy in america. i'm joined by joe williams and ari melbourne. were you impressed that the president referred to mitt romney as a patriotic american who should be proud of his financial successes, but drawn the wrong lessons from that experience? >> i thought that was interesting. it was yet again another iteration and reframing of the bain story that the president has had to manipulate over the past two months to be palatable. now we like his success. mitt romney is not an evil
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capitalist. bain is okay. he drew the wrong lesson from that experience. it has been fascinating to watch this narrative. >> i think she slightly reconstructed that. i have not noted a massive restructure. >> i would not want to play poker with her. she plays a bad hand very well. you are basically proposing this message has been all over the place. if you look at the core message, this president said it is great to make money. the form of the stimulus is to get the economy making more money and hiring people. there is nothing wrong with bain as a company, but there is something wrong with what mitt romney said over and over on the trail. he created jobs through private equity. that is what private equity exists to do. even the industry said, no, we are more about yields and profits. not about creating jobs. he has never been able to give us a number. he does have to be on the defensive because he had a big
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promise he never substantiated. >> joe, did you notice he drew in the support of bill clinton where he said that he agreed with what bill clinton said last week. that what republicans want is the same old stuff and same agenda, but on steroids. >> right. i think that was a great nod to bill clinton and perhaps a rebuttal of the tensions between the two men. i also noticed during the speech was one theme he was trying to strike is a nation of shared prosperity along with the fact he was trying to communicate something that romney had difficulty doing. that he cares about people like me. several times during the speech, you heard him say "us" and "we." talking about the collective and shared prosperity. that the system is not supposed to be set up for winners and losers. >> joe williams, ari melber, you are too good to lose.
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as far as i can remember, i wanted to be a gangster. here are are today's top lines. i amuse you. >> he's a big boy. he knows what he said. >> the president is really out of touch with that's happening across america. >> like i'm a clown. >> what their nickname would be if they were a mobster. michael jordan. >> joey no shoes. >> william refrigerator perry. >> got that nickname because he said everything twice. >> selecting as a campaign sloegen forward is so absurd. >> the private sector is fine. >> he said the private sector is doing fine. is he really that out of touch? while speaking from the hot tub
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of his luxury yacht on his own planet. >> i love this young man in the front row here. all right. this guy here, you think he's my brother, but he's my friend. >> brothers got to hug. >> fun facts -- it's top experts include golf shoes and josh groban. >> if you go to the tape, you'll see a brother right here. wait, wait, back it up. forward. right there. >> woof woof. >> american lives in danger. >> this is the president in the oval office who's going to be the next victim of a u.s. drone attack. we were able to penetrate the nuclear facilities. somebody locked that in there. pretty scary stuff. >> you want us to hire more government workers. he says we need more firemen, policemen, teachers. >> people ought to stop jumping on it after a gaffe and
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understand there's wisdom in the comment. >> does that mean there will be few fewer teachers? the honest answer is yes. >> joining us again -- ari, education. mitt romney i guess wants to be the president of education. what does he mean by education apart from just beating up on teachers? >> when you look at his policy, he talks a lot about choice. doesn't use the word voucher, although that's been associated with his proposals. he recently praised what happened to wisconsin when there was a bailout in springfield, one of the things he wanted to do was strip public bargaining rights of all employees, a difference in wisconsin. so it's always good to look at what people are saying. we follow the lines and gaffes, but if you look at mitt romney's record, you'll see someone willing to trim government, the benefits and deals we have made with our public employees, which include teachers.
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some say that's fine. we should lean more on religious schools or other programs. it would be less funding and support for teachers. >> joe, romney's own education idea is to say we need more two parent home. that's a fine sentiment, but as much a policy prescription than a slogan, i guess like virginia is for lovers and you know that well. don't talk about your personal life. stay on the story. >> focus. focus. any way, part of that comment is not only is it not realistic in an era where wages have remained flat and we have to have two parent households just to get by, but also the nature in which society has changed in which there are more single parent households. two parent households in a situation where not everybody can have that luxury is nonsensical and a little bit out of touch and to ari's point,
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privatization seems to be the mantra of republican parties. it limits accountability, enhances the private sector perhaps at the expense of taxpayers who want their kids to get a good free education. >> indeed. s.e., i want you to listen to a clip of mitt romney speaking in a radio interview in philadelphia today on the subject of education. take a listen. >> i can also tell you that in the studies that have been done across the world and our nation, that changing classroom size by a modest amount from let's say 18 kids per class to 20 kids or down to 16, that that has a very small impact on the quality of education. >> he says class size doesn't matter. i haven't met an education list and i was a parent governor in my children's primary school for eight years. i haven't met anybody who says that's right. >> i don't know if you've met michelle reid, but she has said
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that's right. >> her achievements have been discredited by a number of different individuals. >> i read a study today in salon.com, not a conservative media outlet, that discussed the value of larger class sizes and in fact, small er classes are expensive and not proven to be the most effective means of improving the education of a child. mitt romney is absolutely right that those studies exist. and at best or minimally that it's sort of unclear about the value of small class sizes. >> you agree with that? >> well, do i agree with that? i don't agree that the point here is the size of the class. i think s.e.'s pointing out there may be academic debates. >> good teachers. >> as long as they're the ones not teach iing the large classe as well because already, class sizes are ballooning, even
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before these plans are implemented going from 20 to 25 and if they get larger, that is going to be a problem that studies have shown will hamper education. >> studies show having a good teacher with lots of resources makes for -- >> nobody's disputing that. >> where i was going, i think the large picture, when i go back to his record in massachusetts, you are going to have buckets cut. so i don't look at it as class size alone. i look at it as a drastic restructure to these programs. that's true on the cost program that hires local police officers and teachers. that is a debate where you're going to have less resources. >> i guess none of this will affect those who go to primary school. thank you very much. we'll be right back. cold feels nice on sore muscles, huh?
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